A. G. Tassin’s 1877 Manuscript Account of Natural Conditions and Historical Settlements on the Lower Colorado River

Abstract

A. G. Tassin’s 1877 Manuscript Account of Natural Conditions and Historical Settlements on the Lower Colorado River Jerry Schaefer (bio) Introduction On October 31, 1877, Second Lieutenant Captain Augustus G. Tassin (1842–1893) of the 12th U.S. Infantry at Camp (or Fort) Mohave submitted to his commanding officer a handwritten and self-illustrated report on the natural history, historical geography, and ethnography of the lower Colorado River valley. His report was prepared in response to a Circular of October 5, 1877, from the Engineer Office, Military Division of the Pacific, for use by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It might be expected that a 47-page manuscript of such meticulous detail and obvious personal knowledge of the region would have been published like so many of the early explorers’ and military accounts of the lower Colorado River area (Emory 1848; Farquhar 1991; Ives 1861; Möllhausen 1858, 1861; Whipple et al. 1856; Williamson 1853). It was obviously read by various officials and even a small section on the local flora was published, but for the most part it remained in its original form even after it was deposited in the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution in April 1926. Today the manuscript can be found at the National Anthropological Archives (NAA), Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History. Known only to a few scholars, and occasionally referenced, the substance of the manuscript and remarkable illustrations remained largely unknown to the wider academic community, until now. There are several possible reasons that Tassin’s report was never published by the U.S. government, unlike many other field reports on the region. Although the penmanship is neat and regular, Tassin’s handwriting can still be difficult to read. Secondly, much of the information in this portion of the report was known [End Page 177] and more professionally presented from other sources by 1877. For example, take Wheeler’s (1876) nearly contemporary report with objective descriptions of the terrain, scientific data, maps drawn by professional cartographers, and, for the first time in Colorado River explorations, photographs. Some of Tassin’s plans may actually be based on the Wheeler report. Thirdly, French-born Tassin’s prose may have been considered too idiosyncratic even by contemporary literary conventions, peppered as it is with personal opinions and allusions to European history. Nevertheless, Tassin does provide details, data sets, and plans that are not readily available from other sources. We are fortunate that the manuscript was preserved and a high-quality digital scan was produced and posted by the NAA in association with this transcription project (Tassin 1877). I am grateful to them for permission to publish.1 Augustus G. Tassin (October 12, 1842–October 19, 1893) had a colorful personal history and unusual abilities. Much of his life was shaped by his role in the American military’s pacification of Native Americans in the West (Altshuler 1991; Murray 2013; Patterson 2005; Schaefer and Laylander 2014; Thrapp 1988–1994:1403). His biography is well documented although sources differ in minor details. Born in Paris, France, Tassin was only ten years old when he immigrated through the New Orleans port of entry. He was living in Leopold, Indiana, when the Civil War broke out. Five months into the war, he enlisted in “D” Company of the 35th Indiana Infantry, just a month short of his twentieth birthday. He was assigned the rank of first lieutenant shortly after his enlistment on September 15, 1861. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of full colonel, and later was awarded several honorary breveted ranks for his meritorious service in the Battle of Missionary Ridge and the Atlanta and Nashville campaigns. After the war he married Mary Tilley and had three children. Tassin left the army on December 1, 1870, to fight in the Franco-Prussian War on the French side. Upon his return he reenlisted in 1872 as a private in the Signal Corps, but was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 12th Infantry the following year. He continued his military career for most of his life, attaining the rank of first lieutenant in 1878 and...